Panama Canal and Its Ports
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iV7*a.//*:io u THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS PORTS PORT SERIES No. 40 REVISED 1946 CORPS OF ENGINEERS UNITED STATES ARMY WAR DEPART ME.NT CORPS OF ENGINEERS. US ARMY N ,-S E A BAY OF PANAMA BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS LOCATION MAP OF PANAMA CANAL ZONE O I E345feT89 10M1LES SUBMITTED APPROVED CHIEF STAT^sflCIAH COLONEljCORPS OF ENGlNtERS.US » DRAWN Bv.iiy.e-.... WAR DEPARTMENT CORPS OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY PORT SERIES No. 40 (REVISED 1946) THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS PORTS PREPARED BY THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS WAR DEPARTMENT UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1946 CONTENTS Page Port and harbor conditions: Brief history 1 General description ----- - - _ - ___-_--_-__ i Ports - ~ - 3 Tides and tidal currents __---_-__-__ 3 Weather conditions ---___-__-___------___ 5 Anchorages- -------------------------- 6 Port customs and regulations: Administration -------- ----__-____-__ n Arriving and departing vessels - - ______________ 12 Documents required --------------------- 13 Quarantine regulations -------------------- 17 Immigration ._.-__, ______ _ _ 21 Exclusion of undesirables ------ _____ _ _ 21 Exclusion of Chinese ________ 22 Customs ------------------- ______ _ 24 Admeasurement of vessels --- ________________ 26 Navigation of the Canal and adjacent waters ______ 26 General -----------_-..__ -__-_____ 26 Requirements concerning officers, crew, equipment and passengers ----- _-__-_--_--__-__ 27 Navigation in Canal and harbors ------------- _ 28 Accidents and claims -- _-__--_--__-_____- 29 Radio communication ____-- -_ _-- __ 29 Miscellaneous ___-__-_ __-__-,_,_ 30 Transportation of hazardous cargoes in Canal Zone waters 31 Explosives __.__.__,_ ___-_ _,_,_._._ 31 Hazardous cargoes in bulk, other than explosives ------ 33 Port services and charges: Quarantine -___---____--_-_------------ 35 Customs fees _--- _-------_--_-___-_- 36 Tolls 37 Handling lines 39 Fire protection -____-___--..- 4.0 Pilotage - - - > . 40 Dockage or wharfage __--_____ 4.3 Changes for mooring to buoys __---_----_-_--_--- 45 Right of basin - -46 Towage 4-7 Lighterage __-_, ___- _ 4.8 Storage ______________ 4.3 Handling 51 Stevedoring and transferring cargo ---------------- 52 Labor 62 Miscellaneous -charges -------- _-__-_ _____ 63 Ml CONTENTS- Continued Page Fuel and supplies: Electric current - __________________ 65 Provisions ___ ____ __ 65 Water supply ______---_---- 66 Coal bunkering 66 Oil bunkering &9 Port and harbor facilities: Piers, wharves, and docks at Cristobal _________ 73 Piers, wharves, and docks at Balboa ___________ 80 Freight-irsndling machinery 36 Storage warehouses ----------- _________ 88 Bulk freight storage 88 Dry docks and marine railways ____ 88 Marine repair plants __________________ 91 Floating equipment _____ _ 93 Salvage equipment 95 Communications: Railroads- ___ 99 Panama Railroad Company freight classification and tariff - - 99 Switching 103 Storage 105 Car demurrage ______ ___ ____ 105 Steamship services ____ ____ 106 Air lines 108 Cables 108 Radio 108 Commerce: Canal traffic 111 Principal commodities transported ____ ______ 114. The Panama Canal as a route for United States traffic - - - - 126 List of piers, wharves, and docks at Cristobal --------- 129 List of piers, wharves, and docks at Balboa --- _____ 131 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Location map of Panama Canal Zone _____ Frontispiece. Atlantic entrance and Cristobal Harbor - _____ 2 Gatun Locks 2 Gaillard Cut, general view _____ ______ __ 2 Gold Hill, Gaillard Cut 2 Pedro Miguel Locks ___ _____ 2 Panama Canal at entrance to Miraflores Lake --- _____ 2 Anchorage area and entrance channel at Atlantic entrance - - - - 8 Anchorage area and entrance channel at Pacific entrance ----- 9 Piers Nos. 6, 7, and 8, Cristobal 72 General view of Cristobal terminals _____ 72 Interior of shed on Pier No. 18, Balboa 88 Dry dock at Cristobal 88 Floating crane "Hercules" at Gatun Locks 94- Port facilities map of Cristobal 130 Port facilities map of Balboa 132 WAR DEPARTMENT THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS WASHINGTON 11 September 19I+6 SUBJECT: Report on the Panama Canal and its Ports TO: The Chief of Engineers, United States Army 1. There is transmitted herewith a revised report on the Panama Canal and its ports, prepared "by the Board in furtherance of the objects entrusted to the War Department by section 500 of the Transportation Act of 1920. 2. The present report is published as Ho. kO of the Port Series and supersedes Port Series ITo. 22, published in 1938* The information contained in this report relative to the Canal and its two important terminals was made available to this office largely through the courtesy of the Governor of the Panama Canal, The report was compiled in this office under the super- vision of Mr. Warren E. Graves, chief statistician, and was then reviewed by the Governor of the Panama Canal. 3» On account of the value of the information contained in this re- port to commerce and shipping, and to the successful operation of the mer- chant marine, it is recommended that it be published, with the accompanying illustrations. SOU THB BOARD: Colonel, Corps of Engineer^eers ^ Resident Member — OFFICE OP THE CHIEF OP ENGINEERS 11 September I9U6 TO: The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, Washington, D. C, Approved. R. A. WHEELER Lieutenant General Chief of Engineers INTRODUCTION This report on The Panama Canal and its Ports, published as No. 40 of the Port Series, supersedes Port Series No. 22, issued in 1938. The reports of the Port Series cover the principal ports of the United States and are prepared to meet the needs of the War Department in its study and development of harbors and it encouragement of port facilities and to furnish information needed by commercial and shipping interests in the promotion and expansion of trade. The Panama Canal is a route from one ocean to the other, some 10,000 nautical miles shorter than the distance around South American, through which vessels may, with a maximum of safety and a minimum of delay, transport the cargo offered. The ports of CristoT>al and Balboa are adjuncts o^ the Canal and their functions are different in many respects from the functions of ports in continental United States. They provide facilities for bunkering end repair of vessels transiting the Canal, for the unloading and reloading of cargoes trans- shipped from one vessel to another, and for the receipt of supplies and pro- visions for the maintenance of the Canal or for use by Canal personnel. While this report necessarily differs somewhat in scope and outline from others in the Port Series, it is believed that shipping interests, importers, exporters, and others having occasion to use the route either for through busi- ness or for cargo to be transshipped at the Canal terminals will find it a convenient source of reference. The report contains information relative to the Canal and its traffic, the rules, regulations, and charges governing transit of the Canal, and the facilities available, the services offered, and the charges assessed at the two terminal ports. Much of the information for the report was obtained from current tariffs and publications of The Panama Canal, which also supplied data regarding the facilities at the ports. The ^inal report has been reviewed by the Governor, The Panama Canal. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/alitspoOOunit . THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS PORTS PORT AND HARBOR CONDITIONS BRIEF HISTORY As early as 1550 the nations of Europe had considered a passageway through the Isthmus of Panama as a short cut to the Orient. Portugal, Spain, Holland, and France all made plans to cut a canal, but all were forced through circum- stances to relinquish their hopes. The French, under Count Ferdinand de Lesseps actually started operations but, on account of insufficient funds and the ravugei of tropical fevers, were obliged to desist. Finally, in 1902, the United States upon the advice of the Isthmian Canal Commission, offered the French $40,000,000 for their concession and equipment. This offer was accepted and, after having made treaties first with Colombia and subsequently with Panama, work on the Canal was finally started in 1904.. It was opened to commercial vessels on Au- gust 15, 1914 and in 1920 President Wilson declared the work formally completed. Up to that time a total of 24-0,000,000 cubic yards of earth had been excavated and a total of $366,650,000, exclusive of appropriations for defense, had been expended GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Canal Zone is a strip of land and water extending a distance of ap- proximately five miles on either side of the center line of the Panama Canal. The Canal Zone begins in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from the mean low water mark and extends to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to a distance of three marine miles from the mean low water mark. In ad- dition to the above area, the Canal Zone includes Gatun Lake and all its shore line up to the 100-foot contour, an extension of the Fort Sherman Military Re- serve tion at the mouth of the Chagres River, and the Madden Lake area in the upper Chagres Valley including its shore line up to the 260-foot contour and the land in the vicinity of Madden Dam. The treaties exclude from the Canal Zone the city of Colon and its harbor on the Atlantic side and, on the Pacific side, the city of Panama and its harbor and the "Sabanas Land" (located north- east of Panama City) excepting Paitilla Point Military Reservation. The total area of the Canal Zone is approximately 553 square miles, composed as follows: Square Miles Land area 362.18 Water area (excluding water within the 3-mile limits) 190.9%.